The answer is: for whom? I'm sure for many students, they are merely "playing in the woods." Good CEs.
What can you get out of it? Primarily mindset and improvisation practice/techniques.
For most providers, the courses are really good at teaching improvised care, making some care decisions with limited resources and extended extrication, and some best practices that are different in the wilderness setting.
For EMS providers specifically, I think courses like WEMT upgrade etc also help enforce the idea of preventing problems and thinking beyond 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes, thinking about limited resources and wilderness extrication, etc when making care decisions and plans.
There are also gee-whiz improvisations that nobody (besides the instructor) would remember how to do, much less implement, in the real world. My favorite example is the rope litter. It looks neat, requires practice, and sucks when done correctly. But I can surely go grab a book, Dr. Aurebach's giant wilderness cornucopia or ASHI's Wilderness manual and see an example of how to make your very own rope litter. Sure, I learned how to improvise a traction splint from ski poles or paddles and webbing... they were even timed drills. I could still make one, but I doubt I ever would.
